Our forums have been all over UK ELLE ever since Anne-Marie Curtis unveiled the magazine’s bold redesign with a series of Cara Delevingne covers in September. We’ve been hooked ever since and have adored every cover — until recently. Poor Romee Strijd was flanked by obnoxious fonts last month and now the British publication fails to impress with its bland offering for February 2018, shot by photographer Liz Collins. Nevertheless, we support the diverse cast, which includes models Lorena Maraschi, Neelam Gill, Odette Pavlova, Lili Sumner and Riley Montana featured on a series of covers.

IMAGE: ELLEUK.COM

Our forum members weren’t too fond of the outcome. “Can’t stand Lili… it’s all a bit of a try-hard diversity exercise. Also in terms of composition, I dislike that they put Riley in front of a brown sweater, she feels a bit lost,” commented carbon-made.

“I always appreciate seeing models on covers, but couldn’t they cast more models relevant right now? Lili Sumner has been fading and I never got the hype about her, in fact she’s the weakest in the group shot for me,” pointed out apple.

Once the special subscribers cover was revealed (below), our forum members began to perk up. “I’d be all for the bus shot as a cover, it’s bold,” favored tigerrouge.

“I think the bus cover is the best. It’s just so cool, fashionable and British without it being corny. The main group shot bothers me because everyone is looking in a different direction,” Benn98 noted.

“The bus cover looks like ELLE back in its real peak, that kind of late 00s era under Lorraine. The solo covers are nice but nothing epic and I intensely dislike the full group shot, personally. I’ve enjoyed their redesigned period a lot but I can’t say I’ve purchased any of the issues,” stated honeycombchild.